According to the 2017 report State of Inbound , as few as 22% of companies work with truly aligned Marketing and Sales departments. Marketing is in charge of generating leads and ensuring that they are qualified to make a purchase, while Sales is responsible for converting these leads into customers. This is where the most recurrent discussion between the two departments arises: the commercial area claims that the data provided by marketing does not meet the conditions to be considered qualified leads.

To solve this problem, companies have implemented a new strategy called Smarketing, an acronym that comes from the union of the words Sales and Marketing.  Its mission is to link the objectives of both departments, thus minimizing conflicts and optimizing resources. But how do we ensure the quality of the leads and thus create a positive synergy between the areas? We share with you the steps to follow:

Establish common objectives: 

Agree on the quantity, characteristics and stage of the leads to be sent to the sales team. Both teams should meet and define what qualities their buyer persona should have. From that moment on, marketing will implement a strategy to attract leads and send them to the stage of the funnel that best benefits the sales area.

Unify technological tools: 

Using the same CRM will integrate processes and information from both departments, optimizing time and resources. This will help us to analyze the metrics we need to take into account at each stage of the funnel. For example, the qualification rate.

The biggest conflict, as mentioned above, between Sales and Marketing is lead qualification. The CRM is the tool that allows you to know and check the reasons for disqualifying a lead. Some of these are:

– The data provided is false or incomplete.

– It has less than 5 conversions.

– It is a repeat lead that is already in another stage of the funnel.

– Does not have the right profile.

Therefore, a state-of-the-art software will enhance lead acquisition strategies in Marketing and facilitate customer follow-up in Sales.

Facilitate the sales process: 

Marketing will send only those leads that meet the conditions previously agreed with the sales area. Working with qualified prospects will increase the conversion rate and speed up the customer’s buying process. If the conversion rate is low, you will need to evaluate the following aspects:

–             Am I offering my product to the right people?

– Do I demonstrate how my product will solve the user’s problems?

– If there are objections or doubts about my product, do we have the right answer?

Information sharing and feedback: 

   Bearing in mind that communication is the basis for the success of any company, the marketing team will be aware of the subsequent actions that the sales team will take with the lead once it has been sent, and the sales team, for its part, will be aware of all the steps taken by the marketing team up to the moment the lead is received.

Sales should process the leads and give quantitative and qualitative feedback to the marketing area. Then, both teams will analyze the data and propose improvement actions together. Knowing whether a lead was converted or not will help us to analyze the sales KPI’s, but knowing the reasons for the customer’s decision will be fundamental to optimize the strategy and increase sales.

We know that aligning your Marketing and Sales teams is a process that requires a lot of patience and communication. Integrating their methods will be fundamental for the growth of your company and will allow you to optimize resources and increase ROI. The most important thing will be to work with a CRM that facilitates lead management and customer relationship management. In addition, it makes it possible to access information in a unified way and allows the configuration of workflows that avoid losing business opportunities.